Things have been relatively tranquil these past two months on what might be called the “sex-ed issue,” which simmers just below the boiling point in three Canadian provinces and innumerable American states. The controversy centers on the intense campaign of the so-called “gay lobby” to coerce the general citizenry to accept, endorse, admire, cheer and otherwise celebrate forms of sexual conduct that 15 or 20 years ago were widely viewed as perverted if not depraved.

“What a sad thing it is,” a friend wrote to me last fall, “to see so many young people leaving the church.” But are they? Whenever the point arises, someone invariably replies: “Yes, but they return when they are older.” There have been an impressive number of studies on this question, but they all reach a chilling unanimity. Few of the departees do come back. Nearly all are gone for good. Moreover, the exodus begins in the high school years, not in university. The supporting data are alarming. Examples:

“What a sad thing it is,” a friend wrote to me last fall, “to see so many young people leaving the church.” But are they? Whenever the point arises, someone invariably replies: “Yes, but they return when they are older.” There have been an impressive number of studies on this question, but they all reach a chilling unanimity. Few of the departees do come back. Nearly all are gone for good. Moreover, the exodus begins in the high school years, not in university. The supporting data are alarming. Examples:

It seems a rule for all governments, both of the Left and Right, that when they are confronted with a problem they conclude to be insurmountable, their solution is to pretend it isn’t there. But most of the time it is there, and the consequence of their refusal to face reality can be altogether disastrous.

Now that the opposition is united and in Jason Kenney has a leader who will soon, we trust, win a seat in the Legislature, Alberta politics is starting to become very interesting indeed. We’re swiftly coming down to two parties, one on the Left and one on the Right, but the challenges facing them are quite different.

The landslide victory of Jason Kenney in the leadership contest for the new United Conservative Party has wide implications for Alberta and for Canada, a fact that will begin unfolding rapidly over the next few months. But it also has similarly wide implications for Alberta’s NDP government and its inner politics. Two developments in that sphere over the week of the Tory leadership contest are noteworthy. In both of them Premier Rachel Notley got badly smacked.

The landslide victory of Jason Kenney in the leadership contest for the new United Conservative Party has wide implications for Alberta and for Canada, a fact that will begin unfolding rapidly over the next few months. But it also has similarly wide implications for Alberta’s NDP government and its inner politics. Two developments in that sphere over the week of the Tory leadership contest are noteworthy. In both of them Premier Rachel Notley got badly smacked.